Writers Resources

As writers we all need help from time to time, whether that’s with plots, style, ideas, or simply the mechanics of writing and publishing. These are some of the materials, books, blogs, web sites, etc. that have been suggested to me or that I have found and I think are worth passing on. I’ll keep adding as I come across new and interesting ones.

Stephen King – On writing: A Memoir of the Craft. I have put this first for reason. It’s the most useful thing I’ve read on the art of writing. The first part is a short autobiography, the second his thoughts on the whole writing process, style, formatting, vocabulary, grammar, everything. A very readable book with loads of simple good advice for the would be writer.

Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing. It is literally that, his 10 short simple rules (and home truths). You’ll read it in half an hour, but some of it will lodge in your writing brain forever.

Elizabeth Lyon – Manuscript Makeover. All about revision techniques. Not just the mechanics, but also problems with characters and plot. I’m sure there are others out there, but this has helped me.

Michio Kaku – Physics of the Impossible and other books. Interesting and thought provoking.

Ben Bova – Space Travel: A writers guide to the science of interplanetary and inter stellar travel. Looks at the practicalities (or lack of them) and then how to deal with it as a Science Fiction writer.

The New Scientist – Sometimes fact can be stranger than fiction.

The Emotion Thesaurus: A writers guide to character expression – Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi. Having blogged on the subject this was recommended to me.

Robert Silverberg – Science Fiction 101. I have put this hear rather than in the books section. It’s a collection of great early Science Fiction short stories from great writers. Silverberg then explains why they mean so much to him and what in his opinion makes them classics.

Blogging / Web site:

If you’re thinking of starting a blog this is the book that helped me set up my WordPress site:

Blogs, Web Sites and links:

One problem here is that there is just so much out there. If you’re a tweeter, you’ll have come across loads of sites and blogs. A lot of them are saying the same sort of things. But there’s no doubt there is some good, free, useful information. Or at least information that can help you find what you really want. If there are one’s you find particularly useful I’d love to hear from you.

These are just a few I’ve come across:

https://booksgosocial.com If you’re looking for social media promotion BooksGoSocial provide a very good service at a reasonable cost. At the time of writing they reckon to reach over 500,000 twitter followers as well as Facebook, e-mail and other social media platforms. They also run various Facebook pages, author groups and provide free videos on many aspects of writing and marketing. I have also used them for my book covers and again I think they provide an excellent service at a very reasonable price. Worth a look for any indie-author.

http://www.thecreativepenn.com– A prolific blogger, tweeter, writer and someone who’s made it work. A good place to start if you’re new to the whole self marketing, blogging thing. Loads of free help (as well as things you can pay for)

http://www.bookdesigntemplates.com/ If you’re e-publishing like me you want an easy way to ensure that it formats on Kindle etc. Joel Friedlander, who is behind these appears on the KDP website giving advice. You can pay someone to do it of course. However I paid about $77 (£50) for the multi book version, so all my books will have the same look. After a bit of careful transfering I pressed the upload button on the kindle site and it all worked perfectly – can’t say better than that

Sign up here for my newsletter

Recent Blogs

For me the setting of any book if it’s pivotal to the story becomes a character in the story. The reader has to be able to see the setting in the same way they vision the characters. This means giving enough description to convey a frame work... more»

I guess even if you don’t live in the UK you’ll be aware we’re going through something of an upheaval called Brexit. Now, before I go any further I emphasise in this post I am not taking sides, or expressing a political bias. These are my... more»

At this time, in early January, I’m looking forward to what the new year might bring. However, it’s always good to look back at the year just gone and see what nuggets of wisdom it left behind. So here goes:
It is possible to have a writing... more»